A popular Thai dish, pad kra pao, also known as pad krapow, is a delicious stir-fry with holy basil, chilies and ground meat. It’s actually quite easy to make at home and a bonus is you get to adjust the amount of oil and chilies used to make the dish healthier and less spicy if you’ve got a low spice tolerance!
Prep Time
5 mins
Cooking Time
10 mins
![Pad Kra Pao (Spicy Holy Basil Stir-Fry)](/recipes/images/pad-kra-pao-1.webp)
Ingredients
Servings
2
Sauce
To serve
Instructions
- Cut green beans into shorter pieces and dice onion.
- Using a mortar and pestle, pound chilies and garlic into a paste.
- Make the stir-fry sauce by combing all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl.
- Heat up oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add chili and garlic mixture and stir-fry until fragrant and garlic turns golden brown.
- Add ground pork and cook until it starts to change color.
- Add sauce and continue stir-frying for 30 seconds.
- Add green beans and onions and continue stir-frying until pork is cooked through.
- Turn off the heat and stir in holy basil.
- Serve hot over steamed rice. Top with a fried egg if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- I used pork but you can use your favorite protein of choice. This dish is most commonly made with ground chicken but essentially any protein will work well.
- Adjust the amount of chilies used according to your spice tolerance.
- If you can’t find holy basil, you can substitute with Thai basil or even regular sweet basil.
- You may substitute monkfruit erithrytol sweetener with any other sweetener of choice.